Stress And Counseling Handout.docx

Let’s engage Employees are, most of the time exhausted—physically, emotionally, and psychologically. Burnt out, fatigued employees are unable to build sustainable performance.

When an employee feels stressed, it affects their emotions, thought processes, behaviors, and physical condition that can harm their job performance and health. As shown in this figure, people who are stressed may become nervous and worried. People that are stressed may be uncooperative in the workplace. Some may use drugs and alcohol excessively. Stress also leads to physical disorders because the internal body system changes to try to cope with stress. Stress over a prolonged time may lead to degenerative diseases of the heart, kidneys, lungs, blood vessels, and other parts of the body. Although the symptoms in this table also occur in other issues or health problems, they are common symptoms of underlying stress. Since stress is inevitable, therefore, it is important that this can be kept at a level low enough for us to tolerate without developing emotional or physical disorders, on and off the workplace. Some jobs, such as those in helping professions (counselors, health care professionals) and those with continuous high stress (teachers, combat soldiers, CSRs, reporters) are more likely than others to cause burnout. When workers are burned out, they are more likely to complain, to attribute their errors to others, to magnify their dominant traits, and to be highly irritable. Workaholics may place high expectations on themselves and others and, as a result, experience difficulty achieving desired work-life balance. Burnout is a distinct possibility for them. This is believed to be triggered by overwork, culminating in fatal heart attack or stroke. It estimates 10,000 deaths per year have prompted preventive actions. Enlightened Japanese corporations now urge employees to take earned vacation days, moderate their diets, obtain exercise, and manage their stress levels.

Another severe cause of stress is trauma. It occurs following a major threat to one’s security. The event could be a natural disaster, organizational crisis, dramatic employee abuse by the employer, or personal job loss. (Example: hurricane, OFWs abused/kidnapped, or member of antenna crew who saw his co-worker accidentally electrocuted).

Three types of trauma that have achieved in recent years—workplace trauma, layoff survivor’s sickness, and post-traumatic stress disorder arising from workplace violence. Let’s start with workplace trauma. This is the disintegration of employees’ beliefs in their capabilities. It can arise from harassment at work, wrongful termination, discrimination, or if the employee believes that he is incapable of meeting the evolving performance expectations. Even those individuals remaining employed after mass downsizing suffer stress. Some experience Layoff Survivor’s Sickness (also known as post-layoff survivor disorder) – The feeling of uncertainty or insecurity, anger, guilt, and distrust. They are glad to have a job, but guilty that their workmates were displaced, sometimes without apparent reason—, and even envious. The job pressures on them often increase to shoulder the tasks of their former colleagues. They also wonder, “Will I be the next to be cut?”. Another source of trauma—and product of stress—is to witness or be the victim of workplace violence. Some troubled employee takes dramatic and harmful physical action against co-workers, managers, or company property. These violent, anger-based acts can include unprovoked fights, destruction of property, or use of weapons to threaten, harm, or even murder others. Any person who witness violence, receives injury from it, or lives under the fear of repeated violence may suffer from PTSD. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event. The effect of some traumatic crises may last for years and require lengthy treatment. In some situations, an organization can be held legally liable for the emotional and physical impact of job stress on its employees. Poor working conditions, sustained conflicts with supervisors, traumatic events, or intentional harassment of employees sometimes results in aguish, neuroses, or even suicide. Clearly, stress should not be ignored. Compassionate leaders put the feelings of people first, practice professional intimacy, and act to eliminate toxic sources in their organizations.